The Ford government introduced its latest omnibus housing bill hours after announcing billions of dollars to reduce development charges in a bid to improve a homebuilding sector that is “on its back.”

The new Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act includes a range of measures around official plans, the building code and a suite of highway and transit changes.

Among the changes is a move to consult on whether or not the cost of development charges passed on to homebuyers should be added into purchase and sale agreements, removing development charges for non-profit retirement homes and water infrastructure frameworks for remote parts of the province.

Housing Minister Rob Flack insisted “it all adds up” and “every little bit helps” in the government’s “transformative” bid to restart a housing sector it once promised could build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

“When you look at the bureaucracy there,” he said on Monday. “I come from the business sector, how it was managed through the years. It’s just layers and layers and layers. We got to simply, standardize, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

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Other new steps include standardizing municipalities’ official plans, reviewing the building code and advancing public water and wastewater corporations to help municipalities amortize infrastructure costs.

One part of the bill, though, is set to raise the ire of environmental groups, with the legislation proposing to build on a previous move by the province to block municipalities from imposing their own mandatory climate-friendly standards on building developers.

The new measure would also ban cities from requiring green outdoor standards, with officials giving examples of landscaping, foliage requirements, soil composition and electric vehicle chargers at street level. They say having differing standards in different municipalities slows down the building process.

The Ontario Real Estate Association agreed with Flack’s assessment that the bill will be “transformative” for the province’s housing.

“If implemented, these will be transformative initiatives for housing in Ontario, now and in the future,” the group wrote in a statement. “This is the kind of bold action we need to drive economic growth, support jobs, and keep the dream of homeownership alive.”

The proposed legislation comes days after Ontario tabled its 2026 budget — which includes a full HST rebate for all new homes and more bad news for the province’s housing projections.

The government also annouced billions to reduce the cost of development charges on Monday.

Figures included in the fall economic statement released in November 2025 suggested Ontario would see 315,000 new housing starts from 2025 to 2028. That figure has dropped by more than 10 per cent to 276,900 in the latest budget.

The figures essentially make Ontario’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 impossible.

Flack appeared to acknowledge that the goal was no longer achievable on Monday.

Asked what the new internal goal was, he said: “As long as we sell more homes than we did the month before, than we did the year before, and we see a progressive change upwards, I’m happy.”

Elsewhere in the legislation, the government is substantially increasing the fines for people caught fare dodging on GO Transit and moving ahead with its plan to let anyone use HOV lanes off-peak.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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The federal and Ontario governments will spend billions of dollars to cut development charges in major cities like Toronto by 50 per cent as they look to boost a struggling housing sector.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford were among the politicians at a major event Monday morning to unveil the overhaul of how new housing and its infrastructure are paid for in Ontario.

Between the two governments, the announcement is worth $8.8 billion over the next decade — money that will go to helping cities reduce the fees they charge homebuilders.

“To expand housing supply, increase housing affordability and create tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of careers in the skilled trades, we’re announcing this new Canada-Ontario partnership to build,” Carney said.

“More homes, lower housing costs, tens of thousands of new careers in the skilled trades. We’re looking to reduce the cost to build, help Ontarians save on the purchase of a home.”

The agreement goes to addressing the cost of development charges, which are fees charged to homebuilders when they embark on new housing projects in Ontario.

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Builders have long complained that those fees are too high, suggesting they are passed directly onto new homebuyers, raising the price of housing sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Municipalities, however, have guarded against reducing them. The fees, they say, ensure new projects and new residents don’t cost current taxpayers more — they say the fees are needed for new roads, libraries and transit systems, along with water and wastewater.

“Our government will continue to deliver on our plan to protect Ontario in partnership with the federal government and municipalities by lowering the cost of building, getting shovels in the ground faster, cutting red tape and investing in workers,” Ford said in a statement.

The Ford government has tweaked the charges and how they’re administered, but has stopped short of either eliminating or introducing major caps to what municipalities can charge.

Now, the Canada-Ontario agreement will offer massive incentives to municipalities to give them funding to help pay for infrastructure, so they can reduce development charges by 50 per cent over the next three years.

“Municipalities will also be expected to support DC reductions, so that all three levels of government are supporting increased housing supply and affordability,” a news release announcing the agreement explained.

“Funding will also be made available for non-DC levying municipalities as well as for infrastructure projects prioritized by Ontario.”

Ontario also unveiled a plan with the federal government last week to waive the harmonized sales tax on eligible new builds for the next year.

The latest funding announcement comes a few days after Ottawa announced it was earmarking $1.7 billion for all provinces and territories to boost housing supply however they see fit.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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Ontario’s finance minister is shutting down any talk of extending the province’s $1.4 billion home buyers tax credit, dashing the hopes of the housing development industry, which wants the discount offered “in perpetuity.”

The marquee feature of the 2026 Ontario budget, tabled at Queen’s Park on Thursday, was a publicly-funded tax break for any homebuyer looking to purchase a newly-built house or pre-construction condo.

Along with the federal government, Ontario will waive the full HST for homes under $1 million, giving buyers access to a $130,000 tax break for the next year. The government said the $130,000 discount would also be applied to homes up to $1.5 million.

The government expects the measure will create at least 8,000 homes across, breathing new life into a sector struggling with a slump in sales.

During an interview on Focus Ontario, Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy was asked whether the measure would be extended if the program proves to be successful.

“That is not our intention,” Bethlenfalvy said flatly. “This is a one-year sale to help people with affordability.”

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Even getting to this point has been a challenge.

The original version of the plan, introduced during the fall economic statement, allocated $470 million over three years to give only first-time Ontario homebuyers access to the credit.

Months later, Premier Doug Ford complained the tax break failed to move the needle and began publicly pressuring his finance minister and the federal government to expand the credit to all homebuyers.

Sources told Global News, however, that while the premier wanted the discount to run for a three-year period, the government had concerns that buyers would potentially wait on the sidelines, effectively watering down the policy.

The federal government appeared to be unconvinced as well.

The premier’s office spent weeks negotiating with the federal government and only managed to get Ottawa’s buy-in on Tuesday, roughly 12 hours before Ford announced the expanded tax break.

The 2026 budget, which would have been printed weeks earlier, indicated the province was still working with the federal government “to partner and match Ontario’s action.”

“We would have probably gone alone, sure, but I’m glad they’re there,” Housing Minister Rob Flack said of the federal government contribution.

Still, with the discount coming into effect on April 1, the development industry is already eyeing an extension.

“We have a year to be able to prove that this is going to achieve what we said it will,” said Scott Andison with the Ontario Home Builders Association.

“Hearing the premier talk about that he will never raise a tax, I’m encouraged by the fact that this is a removal that’s going to stay in perpetuity.”

That notion was bluntly rejected by the finance minister.

“They’re absolutely wrong,” Bethlenfalvy said. “This is a one-year thing, we’re very clear about that.”

He added, “This is what the industry has been asking for, this is what we’ve committed to do.”

Peter Bethlenfalvy’s full interview will air on Focus Ontario on Saturday at 5:30 on Global.

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Four years after the Progressive Conservatives promised to build 1.5 million homes in a decade, Ontario’s battered housing sector is looking at lowering expectations again.

As part of its 2022 re-election campaign, the Ford government promised it would solve Ontario’s housing crisis by ramping up the construction of new homes.

But it’s yet to come close to that target, even after adding in long-term care beds to try and boost the struggling statistics.

Ontario’s 2026 budget presents another round of bleak reading for those hoping the tide will turn. Private sector forecasts have, again, knocked tens of thousands of new units off their projections for the next four years.

Figures included in the fall economic statement released in November 2025 suggested Ontario would see 315,000 new housing starts from 2025 to 2028. That figure has dropped by more than 10 per cent to 276,900 in the latest budget.

“Construction activity softened and is expected to remain subdued in 2026 as private-sector forecasters continue to highlight the negative effects of uncertainty on homebuilding,” the government’s annual blueprint acknowledged.

The reductions have come across the board. Last year, the projections were revised from 71,800 down to 65,000, while 2026 is dropping from 74,800 to 64,800.

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The figures essentially make Ontario’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 impossible.

The government had taken a staggered approach to its annual housing targets, seeking 110,000 new homes initially, a figure it broadly reached.

Those numbers then rose to needing 175,00 new homes from 2026 to 2031 to achieve the goal. The budget shows Ontario will struggle to even get close to that figure. In 2026, the forecasts say the province will manage 64,800 starts, with 70,300 in 2027 and 76,800 in 2028.

If those projections materialize, it would repeat its slump from 2025, when the government approached the end of the year more than 100,000 short of its target.

Increasingly, the government has been working to temper expectations.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy referred last year to the goal of 1.5 million homes as a “soft” target. Housing Minister Rob Flack has said he is targeting the spring to see the impacts of recent policy changes.

Bethlenfalvy continued to distance himself from the goal during the 2026 budget.

“No, no, I’m not focused on the target,” he said when asked if it was still achievable. “I’m focused on what we can do today to make it more affordable for people to own homes.”

While new homebuilding has dropped dramatically, the resale market has also dipped substantially.

“Economic uncertainty has weighed on Ontario’s housing market activity despite easing mortgage rates,” the 2026 budget explained.

Last year, resales dropped 5.6 per cent and the average price fell by 4.4 per cent. That, forecasters believe, is temporary and will begin to reverse this year.

“Looking ahead, home resales are projected to rebound, supported by pent-up demand and economic growth,” the budget says. “Home resales are projected to grow 9.1 per cent in 2026, 5.6 per cent in 2027. 4.2 per cent in 2028 and 4 per cent in 2029.”

The government is hoping to take that improving resale picture and try to apply it to new construction through a billion-dollar-plus policy to try and stimulate the sector.

On the eve of the budget, the province announced it was expanding a plan to waive HST for first-time homebuyers on new projects to include anyone buying a new build.

For one year, anyone in Ontario who buys a new home will have the sales tax waived by both the federal and provincial governments. The measure is expected to cost the treasury $1.4 billion.

Announcing the plan, Premier Doug Ford implored people to take advantage and buy a new home.

“Let’s start selling these homes, let’s start building them,” he said in Mississauga on Wednesday. “And people of Ontario, please go out and purchase a new home.”

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Potential buyers across Ontario are poised to receive a significant tax discount on newly-built homes, but only for a limited time, Global News has learned, as the Ford government looks to boost a sector struggling with a slump in sales.

As part of his spring budget, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is expected to announce that the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax will be removed for anyone buying a newly-constructed home, rewriting a policy the government introduced just months ago.

The original version of the plan, introduced during the fall economic statement, allocated $470 million over three years to give first-time Ontario homebuyers a tax break on new homes.

Ontario’s pledge to waive its portion of the HST came shortly after a similar announcement by the federal government — allowing first-time homebuyers to save up to $130,000 on a new home under $1 million, and lower rebates for homes costing up to $1.5 million.

But the offer failed to ignite the market, forcing the government to take a second pass at the policy, and offer the discount to a wider swath of purchasers.

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Sources told Global News there has been an internal struggle over the details of the revised policy. While the premier wanted the discount to run for a three-year period, the government had concerns that buyers could wait on the sidelines, effectively watering down the urgency of the plan.

Instead, sources said, the government is expected to offer a full discount on the provincial portion of the HST for all homebuyers for a one-year period, creating instant demand in the market.

Neither the Finance Minister, Housing Minister or Premier would confirm or deny the plan — but acknowledged they were looking to invigorate the sector.

“We’re going to give a real boost to the building and construction trade and put in more opportunity for people to buy a home,” Ford indicated before heading into caucus meeting Tuesday.

His finance minister, Peter Bethlenfalvy, would not be drawn on the details but emphasized the need to boost housing.

“I think affordability is an important issue for many people in Ontario who dream  of owning a home,” he said on Tuesday.

“It’s also important for the construction industry — when nothing’s getting built, particularly three or four years from now — that there’s some stimulus to the market to support our construction workers and the industry.”

Asked about the one-year limit on the plan, Housing Minister Rob Flack said Global News knows “more about it than me, it appears.”

Ford said people should wait to “see how our announcement goes.”

Ontario’s efforts to build 1.5 million homes by 2031 have fallen flat — there were just 62,561 housing starts in 2025 — leading to calls for additional government intervention to stimulate the market.

Development industry sources told Global News the government had indicated to them that waiving tax for all new homes could cost the treasury $2 billion, substantially more than the $470 million for limiting it to first-time homebuyers.

The additional cost would come at a time when the finance minister’s budget has ballooned to a record $236 billion, with a $13.4-billion deficit and a provincial debt that’s set to cross the half-a-trillion-dollar threshold in 2027.

The finance minister will table the budget on March 26.

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Homebuilding in Ontario is showing early signs of recovery ahead of the spring construction season, potentially beginning to reverse years of decline.

New data released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows housing starts in the province increased year-over-year for the second month in a row.

According to the data, the number of new homes started in February increased 17 per cent this year to 4,665. Only 387 of them were single-family homes.

While the CMHC found Toronto’s housing starts dipped by almost 30 per cent, other places recorded a significant increase.

Overall, over the opening two months of the year, Ontario reported a 14-per cent increase compared to the same period in 2025. That was substantially above the national average of five per cent.

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The two months of growing housing starts will be welcome news for the Ford government, which has presided over years of stalling housing construction.

Initially, the premier blamed rising interest rates for the lack of housing, promising new homes would sprout “like mushrooms” if rates dropped.

But when the cost of borrowing fell, the housing market didn’t rebound. Ford suggested the cost of building approvals and permits from cities was to blame, an issue his administration has repeatedly tried to address through legislation.

Toward the end of last year, Ontario unveiled a new home tax incentive for first-time buyers. A couple of months after it was introduced, the premier said he knew it wouldn’t work.

Global News now understands the measure will be expanded to include anyone buying a new-build home, not just first-time purchasers.

While the government has admitted its goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 is now a “soft target,” Housing Minister Rob Flack is hoping changes brought in last year will help spur construction for this spring.

5:06
Municipal Matters: Ontario housing tensions

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The Ford government is poised to offer all home buyers a significant tax discount on newly built homes, Global News has learned, in a major expansion of a government program designed to breathe life into Ontario’s sluggish housing sector.

As part of his spring budget, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is expected to announce that the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax will be removed for anyone buying a newly constructed home, rewriting a policy the government introduced just months ago.

The original version of the plan, introduced during the fall economic statement, allocated $470 million over three years to give first-time Ontario homebuyers a tax break on new homes.

Ontario’s pledge to waive its portion of the HST came shortly after a similar announcement by the federal government — allowing first-time homebuyers to save up to $130,000 on a new home under $1 million, and lower rebates for homes costing up to $1.5 million.

Only a few months after introducing the policy, however, the premier said it had failed to produce the pre-construction sales the province had hoped for —something Ford said he had warned would happen.

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“I have always been an advocate of getting rid of the HST for everyone,” Ford said in January.

“We did it for first-time homebuyers, but obviously that didn’t move the needle, which I predicted it wouldn’t move the needle. Let’s open it up to anyone who wants to buy a new home.”

But Bethlenfalvy, Ford said, has always been cautious of the costs.

“Thank you for being tight as skin on a grape when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money,” Ford recently said of his finance minister.

Development industry sources told Global News the government had indicated to them that waiving tax for all new homes could cost the treasury $2 billion, substantially more than the $470 million for limiting it to first-time homebuyers.

The additional cost would come at a time when the finance minister’s budget has ballooned to a record $236 billion, with a $13.4-billion deficit and a provincial debt that’s set to cross the half-a-trillion-dollar threshold in 2027.

At a recent pre-budget speech at the Empire Club, Bethlenfalvy warned that Ontario’s outlook is “uncertain” amid global instability and suggested the government needs to restrain spending.

“From a fiscal perspective, stability matters,” Bethlenfalvy said.

Still, the government’s efforts to build 1.5 million homes by 2031 have fallen flat — there were just 62,561 housing starts in 2025 — leading to calls for additional government intervention to stimulate the market.

The Ontario Home Builders Association argued that limiting the HST rebate to first-time homebuyers would impact only five per cent of the market and called for an “Ontario-led approach” to remove the sales tax off all new home purchases.

While the Ford government has been appealing to the federal government to broaden their HST exemption, the province is willing to go it alone.

“A functioning housing market is a competitiveness strategy that helps attract and keep construction jobs while boosting affordability and growing our economy,” Bethlenfalvy told the Empire Club.

The finance minister will table the budget on March 26.

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As the homebuilding industry continues to complain about the cost of starting new projects, the Ontario government is forging ahead with its plans to set up public corporations to build new water and sewage infrastructure.

To get approval to build new homes, developers must pay fees to municipalities designed to cover the cost of running pipes to their developments and building roads, transit or community centres.

They are costs which developers say are escalating at a rate they cannot afford, but which municipalities argue they cannot live without if they are to continue building and maintaining public infrastructure.

It’s a financial conundrum Housing Minister Rob Flack is hoping he can solve through the creation of something called a municipal services corporation.

“I’d like to see them gone, but I think they just can’t be gone because we need to put infrastructure in the ground,” he explained at a recent Empire Club event.

“Growth no longer pays for growth, you can’t expect a new homebuyer to pay for the infrastructure costs into the future, the municipalities don’t have the money — they’ll tell you that — the province doesn’t, nor do the feds. So why don’t we consider setting up municipal service corps, public utilities?”

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The idea will be piloted in the Region of Peel, with a plan to expand it across the province if it works.

Ontario will set up a public corporation operating under a similar model to utilities. It will be able to issue debt to build new water and wastewater infrastructure, attract investors and work to pay it off through fees.

“We’re doing Peel Region as a pilot for this. I think that’s a huge opportunity… you can amortize that investment over 50, 60, 70 years,” Flack added.

1:41
Ontario invests in water infrastructure to boost housing builds in Peterborough, Cavan-Monaghan Township

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The idea was introduced through recent legislation and promised in a letter to Peel Region councillors last year.

Scott Anderson of the Ontario Home Builders Association said it was time to look at a new approach, and said municipal services corporations could be the path forward.

“The costs of infrastructure have escalated to such a degree that it’s just impossible now to use development charges to solely raise the money for capital. These are millions of dollars in projects that are required,” he said.

“As we understand it, in working with the province on how they’re looking to design a model that will work, and Peel was an appropriate place to do that. So they set up this municipal services corporation… it really takes it out of the municipal domain and puts it into a new organization that is focused solely on infrastructure.”

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